We draw from diverse literatures in the sciences, the philosophy of science, ecology, social science, organisational theory, organisational ecology and economics in order to make comparisons, integrate and synthesise information in these disciplines. By drawing on diverse literatures one can observe a convergence of research on complex systems. We show how theories from diverse literatures are being applied to problem situations that have similar characteristics, namely complexity and uncertainty.
We have developed a guiding framework for a strategic analysis (Figure 1.3). It provides the reader with an overview of the book chapters and
Questions
• What are the appropriate techniques to help conceptualise the system?
• How does the behaviour of the social and economic systems affect the agricultural system?
• How does the productivity of the agro- ecological system affect the social system?
Chapter 6 Model conceptualisation of the Western Australian agricultural region. Part 1: Resilience analysis
Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Synthesis
Model conceptualisation of the Western Australian agricultural region. Part 2: System dynamics analysis
Introduction Chapter 1
Chapter 2 Historical and policy context
Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Epistemology of natural resource management in the twentieth century
Questions Is the WA agricultural region a resilient social- ecological system?
What are the effects of past policy on the state of natural resources in the WA agricultural region?
What is the problem?
Why is it a problem?
••••
Natural resource degradation:
a resistant problem of the twentieth century
Chapter 5 Question
• What new theory exists to describe and explain the causal relationships between people and their impact on natural resources?
A contemporary epistemology and framework for natural resource management of the twenty-first century
Paradigm Approach Theory Methods Perspective
Fig. 1.3. Guiding framework showing the key questions and the progression through the book with the chapters identified.
shows the questions to be addressed. This book is composed of eight chapters.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the issues, sets the context and poses a number of questions and sub-questions to be addressed. In this introductory chapter we establish the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of this book
while focussing on the particular issues of complexity and uncertainty in problems of natural resource management in the agricultural context.
How we understand ‘the problem’ and go about the process of problem- solving in complex issues is introduced as an issue for science and policy, particularly when people’s values are concerned and need to be taken into account in the problem-solving process. Natural resource management deci- sions must be taken with serious regard for whole contexts, including impor- tant cultural, social and political dimensions that have contributed to the current state of the system and condition of our natural resources. Any natural resource problem caused by human actions is a result of prior events and processes that develop and are portrayed as historical patterns over genera- tions or even centuries. Rarely will the experience of one generation be able to unravel the origin of an event or a process fully enough to make decisions to explicitly influence future system behaviour. The way we interpret what we see is based on history, our mental models and other techniques created to help make sense of what we see. In Chapter 2, we provide the historical and policy context of the WA agricultural region and an evaluation and assessment of natural resource management. The historical account spans the 116-year history, between 1889 and 2005, of the development of agriculture in Western Australia and the evolution of policy for natural resource management relating to agriculture. In Chapter 3, we describe the key features of the negative impacts or unintended effects of the management of agricultural landscapes in Australia with a focus on the WA agricultural region. One of our central concerns is that if society is not to repeat the same problems with each succes- sive policy as those encountered with command and control policy and with the integrated and adaptive management approaches as currently practised, then it is apparent that we will need to approach the problem-solving process in a very different manner to past measures.
It is important that we critically analyse the applicability of past measures to addressing natural resource problems not only from a methodological perspective but also from a paradigmatic perspective. The key characteristics of the current dominant paradigm and methodology of science and its rela- tion to social action and organisational analysis are described in Chapter 4.
The key characteristics of alternative frameworks are examined for organ- ising competing values and alternative worldviews of how ‘reality’ may be understood. We outline the tenets of traditional or normal science philos- ophy and its influence on natural resource management and policy. Command and control and integrated and adaptive management are then appraised as approaches to policy implementation. This is done by comparing the episte- mology and methodology of these approaches.
Following on from how we have understood natural resource management in the past, in Chapter 5, we review the systems literature relevant to the new and evolving basis for understanding natural resource problems. We develop a heuristic framework composed of the paradigm, approach, theory, perspective and methods that we adopt and subsequently apply to the WA agricultural region. The framework, based on systemic notions, is designed to explore the fundamental causal relationships in systems made up of people and nature.
In Chapters 6 and 7 we integrate the information from Chapters 2 to 5 and explore what the findings may mean for the future dynamics of the WA agricultural region. In Chapter 6, we apply resilience theory to analyse and evaluate the WA agricultural region’s resilience and capacity for change and renewal. In Chapter 7, we use qualitative system dynamics, at the highly aggregated level, to develop further insights into understanding the phenomenon known as ‘the counterintuitive behaviour of social systems’
and ‘policy resistance’. These phenomena describe the tendency for inter- ventions to be delayed, diluted or defeated by the response of the system to the intervention itself (Meadows and Robinson, 1985; Forrester, 1995). In addition we integrate system dynamics with resilience theory to identify high leverage policy points in the system that might be used to effect fundamental and lasting change. In Chapter 8 we provide the synthesis, conclusions and potential extensions that arise from this work.
Historical and policy context
Rather than float in an unconnected present, environmental history can provide some context and story as to how we got here. So we can
proceed, believing that environmental history can speak to environmental policy, to some extent at least.
Stephen Dovers, 2000